Fastenings for travel goods



July 28 l959 c:.w. CHENEY l 2,896,294

FASTENINGS FOR rl`RAVEIL GOODS xfiled Feb. 4, 195s www 2,896,294 ICC rammed July 2s, 1959 United States Patent 2,896,294 FASTENINGS non TRAVEL GooDs Charles William Cheney, Hockl'ey, Birmingham, 'England Application February 4, 1958, Serial No. 713,132 1 claim. (c1. 24.-25'9) This invention rela-tes to fasteners for travel bags, especially llexible bags known as hold-alls, of the type comprising a bolt member and a hasp member provided with a staple or the like to releasably engage a spring loaded bolt of said bolt member. Ordinarily, the hasp member consists of an approximately U-shaped sheet metal tab lbetween the llanges of which a flexible strap or ilap of the bag is received and secured. These hasp tabs are mass produced as sheet metal pressings and are sold to the travel goods trade at competitive prices. When such a hasp tab is engaged with the bolt member, that flange of the U-shaped member having the staple or the like is positioned under the flexible strap or flap, and the other llange is above the latter. These flanges are referred to herein as the upper flange and the lower llange. Usually, the means for securing the strap or the like to said llanges consist in piercing the upper and lower ilanges with coincident holes, applying small headed rivets through the holes and the interposed strap, and then riveting them against the exterior of the lower ange. This manner of attaching such hasp tabs to straps by means of rivets is a delicate, slow and tedious operation which not only increases production costs but leaves blemishes occasioned by the riveting, on at least one exterior surface of the ilanges, which surfaces have an electroplated or other finish to match that of the bolt member. Apart from this, the rivets are apt to become loosened and are liable to catch the finger nails or clothing of .the user.

The primary object of the present invention is to avoid the riveting operation with its attendant disadvantages, by providing the hasp itself with very simple and inexpensive means by which such hasp tabs can be rapidly secured to flexible straps or tlaps by unskilled labour, and without leaving a blemish on the exterior nish of the article.

According to the present invention, a hasp tab of the kind referred to, is provided with its own means for securing it to a llexible part of the travel bag, said means -comprising on the upper flange an integral tongue which yis directed inwardly towards a tongue slot in the lower flange, said tongue being adapted to pass through the flexible material and the slot and to be clinched down against the back of the lower llange.

The ideal form of construction of the invention, is when the back of said lower flange is provided with a recess in which the clinched tongue is received, so that the tongue lies flush with the said back.

A form of construction of the invention is illustrated, by way of example, on the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. l is a perspective view illustrating the application of the invention to a ilexible travel lbag of the holdall type. Y

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the hasp member.

Fig. 3 is a section of Fig. 2 on the dotted line A-A, a piece of llexible material, eg. a strap being indicated in dotted lines in readiness for being secured to the hasp member.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section to a larger scale of the ilexible material secured to the hasp without rivets.

As will be observed from the drawing, a fastening of the kind to which the invention relates comprises a bolt member 5 and a hasp member 6. The member 5 is ordinarily secured to a flexible travel iba'g 7 and -the member 6 to a llexible strap or ilap 8 (Fig. 1) such as on the slider of an edge-to-edge fastener. This member or hasp 6 is constructed as an approximately U-,shaped sheet metal pressing of rbendable material comprising a generally upper llange 9 and a lower llange 10 joined by a web 11, the flanges 9 and 10 receiving between them the exible strap or member 8 and the flange 10 having on -its side facing away from flange 9 a staple 12 to pass through a slot in the bolt member 5 and snap engage a bolt therein.

The upper flange 9 has an integral tongue or prong 13 which is direc-ted inwardly towards a prong slot 14 formed in the lower llange 10. The tongue extends from that edge of llange 9 -which is distant from web 11. The slot 14, adjacent to that edge of llan-ge 10 which is distant from web 11, communicates with a recess 15 formed in that side of ilange 10 which faces away from member 9. The root of the tongue 13 is formed as a continuation of the upper flange 9 and the root 16 Ihas a crank 17' extending a short distance toward the web 11. With this construction the blade of the tongue is set inwardly and away from the downturned boundary rim 18 of the upper llange 9. The rim extends from one to the other end of web 11 at that side of ilange 9 which faces the other flange 10. The effect of the crank 17 is twofold, first it obscures from view any part of the tongue 13 when the hasp member 6 yis attached to the flexible strap 8, and, consequently, it adds strength to the prong and augments its ability to penetrate through the llexible strap 8, which may vary in toughness in relation to whether the strap be made of fabric, leather or other known materials used in bag manufacture.

It will be appreciated that to satisfy the requirements of the travel goods trade the front face and the back face of the upper and lower anges 9 and 10 are given a high grade finish such as by an electroplating method, and the object of the invention is attained by placing the strap 8 between the upper and lower ilanges 9 and 10 when in the open position for fitting, as seen in Fig. 3; the assembler may pierce an opening in the strap 8 corresponding to the slot 14, for example if the strap is made of leather. Then the dlanges 9 and 10 are brought together so as to sandwich the strap 8 between them, the ton-gue 13 passing through the tongue slot 14 and being clinched into the recess 15 in the lower flange 10 so that the tongue or prong 13 lies llush with the back face of the said flange, ie. with that side of member 10 which faces away from flange 9. The result is that neither the plated surfaces of the hasp member 6 sulfer from blemishes hitherto arising in connection with the delicate, slow and tedious operation of riveting above referred to.

It will be further appreciated that as a result of the invention, the productive rate of attaching hasp members 6 to straps S will be considerably increased, because it is no longer necessary for the opera-tor to pick up several rivets and insert them in holes pierced in the upper ange 9 in readiness for riveting, a delicate operation which gave rise to fumbling.

I claim:

A hasp adapted yto be secured to a flexible member and consisting of two flanges of lbendable metallic material,

the ilanges having a common web ywith two ends and 'i each flange having an edge distant from said web, one flange having a side adjacent to the other ange and the other flange having a side facing away from said one flange when the anges are pivoted about said web, said one ange having a tongue integral with its edge and defining a crank bent along the side of said one ange and extending a short, distance toward the web, said one ange also having a boundary rim extending thereabout from one to the other end of said web and integral With said crank, the rim extending from the side of said one ange, the other flange having a slot adjacent its edge andV so positioned as to permit passage of said tongue therethrough when the anges are pivoted about said web and defining in its side a recess extending from the slot toward said web whereby, when the anges are pivoted about said web with a exible member therebetween and the tongue extends through the flexible member and through said slot, the tongue may be bent into said recess to lie flush with the side of said'other ange and to retain the flexible member between said flanges, and further comprising a staple xed to and extending from Ithe side of said other flange.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 131,174 Marston Sept. 10, 1872 1,174,033 Abbott Mar. 7, 1916 1,397,382 Levine et al. Nov. 15, 1921 2,672,667 Mar. 23, 1954 Y FOREIGN PATENTS 501,719 Great Britain Mar. 3, 1939 802,229 France June 6, 1936 

